Liberte, Egalite et Dirte
On this day in 1793, Jean Paul Marat was caught taking a bath.
The French government immediately disassociated itself with the late doctor. Press Secretary Antoine Neige denounced the act of hygiene. “We would never ask anyone to bathe just for Bastille Day.” Neige also denied that Maximilien Robespierre and Marat had been more than vague acquaintances. “There are so many people on the Guillotine & Homecoming Committee that Directeur Robespierre can’t know them all. Being a likable and folksy leader, Robespierre gives many people nicknames. I am sure that Marat was delighted to be called Doc Scabby, but let’s not read more into it than that.”
Hoping to quell French outrage over the scandal, political operatives of the Jacobins immediately began to skew the story to their perspective. As they explained on Faux News, “Marat was thrown into that bathtub by elitist Austrian terrorists; finding himself in soap and water, the French patriot probably stabbed himself to death.”
July 14: bastille DAY
July 13: charlotte cor DAY